Desmond McNeill – författare

Vaccination programmes now represent a major part of the effort devoted to improving the health of children in developing countries. These donor-funded programmes tend to be global in scope and focus on worldwide goals and targets such as 'polio eradication', and the Millennium Development Goals. Health policy makers at the national level are expected to implement these programmes in a standard manner and report progress according to a few standard indicators. Pressures and incentives to achieve the targets set are then transmitted down to the community level health worker who actually meets the parents and children to implement the programmes. Drawing on first hand, original research in India and Malawi carried out by the contributors, as well as existing literature, Protecting the World's Children: Immunisation policies and practices suggests that there is little or no scope allowed for the effects of variance in the way health systems work, the difficulties and tensions faced by health workers, or differences in the way people think about childhood illnesses that reflect cultural differences. The book argues that the need to show progress can create distortions and lead to the production of misleading data and an unwillingness to report problems. It proposes that vaccines could more effectively serve children's health needs if immunisation programmes are better understood and acknowledged, and if local knowledge and realities were enabled to inform national and international health policy. Written by an international, interdisciplinary team of experts in immunisation policy, Protecting the World's Children is an integrative study of immunisation policy and practice at a global, national and community level, and is an essential resource for researchers and practitioners in international and public health, as well as professionals in international and development studies.

Originally published in 1981, this book analyses how development aid works in practice. It presents a critique of the practice of foreign aid, analyses the aid process, who controls it and investigates the exercise of leverage by donors. It examines the interests of the different parties involved, identifies problems and suggests alternatives which may allow the aid process to operate more effectively in the interest of those who need it.

Originally published in 1981, this book analyses how development aid works in practice. It presents a critique of the practice of foreign aid, analyses the aid process, who controls it and investigates the exercise of leverage by donors. It examines the interests of the different parties involved, identifies problems and suggests alternatives which may allow the aid process to operate more effectively in the interest of those who need it.

This unique book explores a very broad range of ideas and institutions and provides thorough and detailed case studies in the context of broader theoretical analysis. Key topics such as poverty, global governance, sustainable development and the environment are closely examined, with detailed case studies of the World Bank, the WTO, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, UN Development Programme and the OECD's Development Assistance Committee.The impact multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and IMF have on development is hotly debated, but few doubt their power and influence. This book examines the concepts that have powerfully influenced development policy and, more broadly, looks at the role of ideas in international development institutions and how they have affected current development discourse. The authors analyze why some ideas are taken up by these institutions, how the ideas travel within the systems and how they are translated into policy, modified, distorted or resisted.

This unique book explores a very broad range of ideas and institutions and provides thorough and detailed case studies in the context of broader theoretical analysis. Key topics such as poverty, global governance, sustainable development and the environment are closely examined, with detailed case studies of the World Bank, the WTO, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, UN Development Programme and the OECD's Development Assistance Committee.The impact multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and IMF have on development is hotly debated, but few doubt their power and influence. This book examines the concepts that have powerfully influenced development policy and, more broadly, looks at the role of ideas in international development institutions and how they have affected current development discourse. The authors analyze why some ideas are taken up by these institutions, how the ideas travel within the systems and how they are translated into policy, modified, distorted or resisted.

Development Issues in Global Governance presents the first serious academic study of multilateral organizations’ current partnerships with the private sector. This new volume describes empirically, and analyzes theoretically, the impact of such partnerships on the practices, legitimacy and authority of the parties involved. With detailed case studies of key international bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Bank, and the UN's Education, Science and Communication Organization (UNESCO), the reader is given a clear understanding of present debates in this critical area of world affairs.This invaluable book: includes fresh case studies that deal with five different industries: pharmaceuticals, software, water supply, tobacco and chocolateprovides an overview of the scope of the phenomenon of partnerships in the multilateral system, and classification of different typesis based on detailed qualitative research, including extensive interviews in the multilateral organizationsplaces the findings in a rigorous theoretical framework, relating them to current trends in international politics and international political economyexamines the challenges contained in the Millennium Development Goals: the provision of drugs to HIV/AIDS patients and vaccination for all children; the bridging of the digital divide; combating child labour; and the provision of clean water to the poor. The authors conclude that we are witnessing the emergence of a new institutional form, best characterized as ‘market multilateralism’. They argue that although transnational corporations have become heavily involved with multilateral organizations, these partnerships are crafted to deal with specific instances of market failure, while the guiding principles of the global economy remain unchallenged.This book will be of great interest to all students of development studies, international relations, political science and business management.

A new examination of corporate involvement in international development, a key issue for the global community in the twenty-first century.Benedicte Bull and Desmond McNeill look at how and why United Nations organizations and the World Bank are increasingly working with private actors, including not-for-profit companies and corporations and business organizations and private foundations to address key world issues such as health, education, labour rights and water.Critics have claimed that increased corporate involvement threatens the legtimacy of multilateral organizations and this book assesses this claim, while providing a comprehensive cross-sector study of public-private partnerships (PPP) and detailed case studies on:the pharmaceutical industry, exploring health initatives such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the Global Fund to fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malariathe International Labour Organization and the fight against child labour.UNESCO and the partnerships with Intel and Microsoft to develop educational material and community centres for increasing computer literacy in the developing worldWorld Bank and PPP efforts to improve water supplies in developing countries, critical for sustainable development, environmental integrity and the alleviation of poverty and hunger.With new theoretical frameworks and fresh case-studies, this is an important contribution to our understanding of the changing role of private authority in international affairs. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers of IPE, international relations and development.

Severe poverty is one of the greatest moral challenges of our times. But what place, if any, do ethical thinking and questions of global justice have in the policies and practice of international organizations? This books examines this question in depth, based on an analysis of the two major multilateral development organizations - the World Bank and the UNDP - and two specific initiatives where poverty and ethics or human rights have been explicitly in focus: in the Inter-American Development Bank and UNESCO. The current development aid framework may be seen as seeking to make globalization work for the poor; and multilateral organizations such as these are powerful global actors, whether by virtue of their financial resources, or in their role as global norm-setting bodies and as sources of hegemonic knowledge about poverty. Drawing on their backgrounds in political economy, ethics and sociology of knowledge, as well as their inside knowledge of some of the case studies, the authors show how, despite the rhetoric, issues of ethics and human rights have – for very varying reasons and in differing ways – been effectively prevented from impinging on actual practice. Global Poverty, Ethics and Human Rights will be of interest to researchers and advanced students, as well as practitioners and activists, in the fields of international relations, development studies, and international political economy. It will also be of relevance for political philosophy, human rights, development ethics and applied ethics more generally.

Severe poverty is one of the greatest moral challenges of our times. But what place, if any, do ethical thinking and questions of global justice have in the policies and practice of international organizations? This books examines this question in depth, based on an analysis of the two major multilateral development organizations - the World Bank and the UNDP - and two specific initiatives where poverty and ethics or human rights have been explicitly in focus: in the Inter-American Development Bank and UNESCO. The current development aid framework may be seen as seeking to make globalization work for the poor; and multilateral organizations such as these are powerful global actors, whether by virtue of their financial resources, or in their role as global norm-setting bodies and as sources of hegemonic knowledge about poverty. Drawing on their backgrounds in political economy, ethics and sociology of knowledge, as well as their inside knowledge of some of the case studies, the authors show how, despite the rhetoric, issues of ethics and human rights have – for very varying reasons and in differing ways – been effectively prevented from impinging on actual practice. Global Poverty, Ethics and Human Rights will be of interest to researchers and advanced students, as well as practitioners and activists, in the fields of international relations, development studies, and international political economy. It will also be of relevance for political philosophy, human rights, development ethics and applied ethics more generally.

In recent years, a great deal of public attention has been focussed on multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and WTO. This book offers students, practitioners and activists a critical guide to these and other major institutions - the Regional Development Banks and UNDP - that make up the multilateral development system. It analyses how they operate with respect to financing and lending, the various roles that they play, and related changes in their policy concerns - such as structural adjustment, sustainable development, and governance. The emphasis is on politics within and also between multilateral institutions, analysing the relations – both competitive and collaborative – between, for example, the World Bank and UNDP. NGOs are also shown to be important actors, and the role they have played in recent years is critically assessed. The book concludes with some emerging trends: the ‘privatisation’ of the system, regionalisation, and ‘the politics of protest’.Bøås and McNeill do not simply take the policies of multilateral institutions at face value, but ask how and why these policies came into existence. They seek to promote critical, but informed, engagement both with the member states of multilateral institutions and the institutions themselves.

he urgent need to enhance sustainable development in developing countries has never been greater: poverty levels are growing, land conversions are uncontrolled, and there is rapid loss of biodiversity through land use change. This timely book highlights the need for integrated assessment tools for developing countries, considering the long-term impacts of decisions taken today. The success of land use policies has in the past often been hampered by the fact that we simply do not know enough about their impact on sustainable development across developing countries. This book contributes to bridging this knowledge gap while facilitating the successful design and implementation of land use policies. The challenge of land use changes in response to changes in the policy environment - macro policy, agricultural and forest policy, environmental policy - is explored with a focus on the South. Detailed case studies encompassing seven countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America are presented via a common framework of analysis. In each case, sustainable development concerns are identified from environmental, economic and social perspectives. The interrelated causes of these problems are analyzed by identifying key drivers and relevant land use policies, and the potential impact of prioritized land use policies are then discussed. This important book will prove invaluable to academics, researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers concerned with land-use planning, sustainable development and environmental studies. Contributors: A.M. Arbi, I. Bezlepkina, M. Bonin, F. Brouwer, M. Bursztyn, L. Chen, Y. Cisse, E. Coudel, S.A. Dalimunthe, N. Debortoli, N.I.S. Dewi, S. Feng, L.N. Gachimbi, P. Gicheru, H. Jeder, S. Kashyap, H. Konig, D. Lindoso, X. Ma, D. McNeill, S.N. Makokha, I. Nesheim, N. Novira, N. Ounalli, S. Patil, S. Purushothaman, F. Qu, T.S. Rahayu, P. Reidsma, S. Rodrigues-Filho, J. Schuler, M. Sghaier, X. Shi, J.-P. Tonneau, R. Verburg, J. Von Braun, J.W. Wamuongo, A.P. Wicaksono

This book demonstrates the continuing relevance of Marx’s critique of the capitalist system, in which value is simply equated with market price. Section I demonstrates how fetishism developed in Marx’s writing from a journalistic metaphor to an analytical device central to his critique.